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The term Concerto (plural concertos or concerti) usually refers to a
musical work in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an
orchestra. The
concerto, as understood in this modern way, arose in the Baroque period side
by side with the concerto
grosso, which contrasted a small group of instruments with the
rest of the orchestra. While the concerto grosso is confined to the
Baroque period, the solo concerto has continued as a vital musical
force to this day. This article will concentrate on the development
of the solo concerto.

Etymology

The etymology of the word "concerto" is somewhat
problematic, as the Italian ‘concertare’ can mean ‘to contend,
dispute’ but it also has the contrary meaning of ‘to agree’. The
idea of two opposing forces is inherent in the use of the
term.

The Baroque concerto

In the late 16th century
there is often no clear distinction made between a concerto and a
sinfonia. Both of these
terms were even used throughout the 17th
century, in Italy, to describe
vocal music with instrumental accompaniment; Giovanni
Gabrieli published motets using either of these terms
indiscriminately.
Viadana’s Cento concerti ecclesiastici (1602) are examples of
the early concerto for limited forces: he uses one to four voices
with continuo, composed
in such a way that the works can still be performed if one or more
of the voices is absent.

From about 1675 composers started to write works
for divided orchestra, the standard term for which is concerto
grosso. The smaller division, which was effectively a group of
soloists, was referred to in these works as the concertino and the
accompanying instruments were called the ripieno, while tutti was
used to indicate the two groups playing simultaneously. The
earliest examples of these works can be found in the group of
serenatas entitled "Quel prodigo e ch'io miri" by allessandro
Stradella. In the concerti grossi of Arcangelo
Corelli and Giuseppe
Torelli, the violin
in the concertino is sometimes given extended solo passages. These
are the beginnings of the solo concerto. In Torelli's Concerti
Grossi, op.8, six of the twelve concertos are true solo concertos
and all exhibit, to greater or lesser extent, the characteristics
that would make up the "Venetian design" : 3 movements
(fast-slow-fast), virtuosic writing and ritornello form.

The most influential composer in the history of
the Baroque concerto was Vivaldi, who was the first to develop the
formal and stylistic potentialities of the Torellian model. He
wrote 50 ripeno concertos, 350 solo concertos and a relatively
small number of concerti grossi. His 12 Concerti, Op. 3 "L'estro
armonico" are also arguably the most influential pieces of the
first half of the Eighteenth Century. some of his concerti are
programmatic,
notably
The Four Seasons. some of the concerti use wind, as Vivaldi had
access to wind players at the Ospedale
della Pietà

By Johann
Sebastian Bach's time the concerto as a polyphonic instrumental form
was thoroughly established. The term frequently appears in the
autograph title-pages of his church cantatas, even when the cantata
contains no instrumental prelude.
He also wrote an Italian Concerto for solo harpsichord, which
reduces the ideaa of ritornello form and concerto style onto a
single instrument. His set of six "Brandenburg concertos" consist
of three ripieno concertos (1,3,6) and three concerti grossi
(2,4,5). The fourth has a very prominent violin part while the
other two soloists (recorders) are reduced to a much smaller role.
The fifth is in effect a solo harpsichord
concerto. The origins of the keyboard concerto are to be found
in such concertos by Bach. He also wrote about six solo concertos
for violin, only two of which are extant, and a concerto for two
violins and orchestra. Bach’s concertos are modeled on those of
Vivaldi, but they expand the form, giving a coherent motivic unity
to the contrapuntal
textures of each movement.

The Classical concertos

The concertos of Bach’s sons are perhaps the best
links between those of the Baroque period and those of Mozart.
C.P.E. Bach’s keyboard concertos contain some brilliant
soloistic writing. Some of them have movements that run into one
another without a break, and there are frequent cross-movement
thematic references. Mozart, as a boy, made arrangements for
harpsichord and orchestra of three sonata movements by Johann
Christian Bach. By the time he was twenty, he was able to write
concerto ritornelli that gave the orchestra admirable opportunity
for asserting its character in an exposition with some five or six
sharply contrasted themes, before the soloist enters to elaborate
on the material. He wrote one concerto each for
flute, oboe
(later rearranged for flute and known as Flute Concerto No. 2),
clarinet,
and bassoon,
four for horn, a
Concerto for Flute, Harp and Orchestra, and a
Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra. They all
exploit the characteristics of the solo instrument brilliantly. His
five violin concertos, written in quick succession, show a number
of influences, notably Italian and Austrian. Several
passages have leanings towards folk music, as
manifested in Austrian serenades. However, it was in
his twenty-three original piano concertos that he excelled himself.
It is conventional to state that the first movements of concertos
from the Classical period onwards follow the structure of sonata form.
Mozart, however, treats sonata form in his concerto movements with
so much freedom that any broad classification becomes impossible.
For example, some of the themes heard in the exposition may not be
heard again in subsequent sections. The piano, at its entry, may
introduce entirely new material. There may even be new material in
the so-called recapitulation section, which in effect becomes a
free fantasia.
Towards the end of the first movement, and sometimes in other
movements too, there is a traditional place for an improvised
cadenza. The slow
movements may be based on sonata form or abridged sonata form, but
some of them are romances.
The finale is sometimes a rondo, or even a theme with
variations. see Mozart
Piano Concertos

The Romantic concerto

Violin concertos

In the 19th century
the concerto as a vehicle for virtuosic display flourished as
never before. It was the age in which the artist was seen as hero,
to be worshipped and adulated with rapture. Early Romantic traits
can be found in the violin concertos of Viotti,
but it is Spohr’s
twelve violin concertos, written between 1802 and 1827, that truly
embrace the Romantic spirit with their melodic as well as their
dramatic qualities. Beethoven’s Violin Concerto is unique in its
scale and melodic qualities. Recitative
elements are often incorporated, showing the influence of Italian
opera on purely
instrumental forms. Mendelssohn
opens his violin concerto (1844) with the singing qualities of the
violin solo. Even later passage work is dramatic and
recitative-like, rather than merely virtuosic. The wind instruments
state the lyrical second subject over a low pedal G on the violin –
certainly an innovation. The cadenza, placed at the start of the
recapitulation, is fully written out and integrated into the
structure.

The great violin virtuoso Niccolò
Paganini was a legendary figure who, as a composer, exploited
the technical potential of his instrument to its very limits. Each
one exploits rhapsodic ideas but is unique in its own form. The
Belgian
violinist Henri
Vieuxtemps contributed several works to this form. Édouard
Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole (1875) displays virtuoso writing
with a Spanish flavor. Max Bruch wrote
three violin concertos, but it is the first, in G minor, that has
remained a firm favorite in the repertoire. The opening movement
relates so closely to the two remaining movements that it functions
like an operatic prelude. Tchaikovsky’s
violin concerto (1878) is a powerful work which succeeds in being
lyrical as well as superbly virtuosic. In the same year Brahms
wrote his violin concerto for the virtuoso Joseph
Joachim. This work makes new demands on the player, so much so
that when it was first written it was referred to as a "concerto
against the violin". The first movement brings the concerto into
the realm of symphonic development. The second movement is
traditionally lyrical, and the finale is based on a lively Hungarian
theme.

Piano concertos

Beethoven’s five piano concertos increase
the technical demands made on the soloist. The last two are
particularly remarkable, integrating the concerto into a large
symphonic structure with movements that frequently run into one
another. His Piano Concerto no 4 starts, against tradition, with a
statement by the piano, after which the orchestra magically enters
in a foreign key, to present what would normally have been the
opening tutti. The work has an essentially lyrical character. The
slow movement is a dramatic dialogue between the soloist and the
orchestra. Concerto no 5 has the basic rhythm of a Viennese
military
march. There is no lyrical second subject, but in its place a
continuous development of the opening material. He also wrote a
Triple Concerto for piano, violin, cello, and orchestra.

The piano concertos of Mendelssohn,
Field,
and Hummel
provide a link from the Classical concerto to the Romantic
concerto. Chopin
wrote two piano concertos in which the orchestra is very much
relegated to an accompanying role. Schumann,
despite being a pianist-composer, wrote a piano concerto in which
virtuosity is never allowed to eclipse the essential lyrical
quality of the work. The gentle, expressive melody heard at the
beginning on woodwind and horns (after the piano’s heralding
introductory chords) bears the material for most of the argument in
the first movement. In fact, argument in the traditional
developmental sense is replaced by a kind of variation technique in
which soloist and orchestra interweave their ideas.

Liszt's
mastery of piano technique matched that of Paganini for the violin.
His two concertos left a deep impression on the style of piano
concerto writing, influencing Rubinstein, and
especially Tchaikovsky,
whose first piano concerto's rich chordal opening is justly famous.
Grieg’s
concerto likewise begins in a striking manner after which it
continues in a lyrical vein.

Brahms's First Piano
Concerto in D minor (pub 1861) was the result of an immense amount
of work on a mass of material originally intended for a symphony.
His Second Piano Concerto in Bb major (1881) has four movements and
is written on a larger scale than any earlier concerto. Like his
violin concerto, it is symphonic in proportions.

Fewer piano concertos were written in the late
Romantic Period. But Grieg-inspired Sergei
Rachmaninoff wrote 4 piano concertos between 1891 and 1926. His
2nd and
3rd, being the most popular of the 4, went on to become among
the most famous in piano repertoire and shining examples of Russian
musicianship.

Small-scale works

Besides the usual three-movement works with the
title "concerto", many 19th-century composers wrote shorter pieces
for solo instrument and orchestra, often bearing descriptive
titles. Schumann called such pieces Concertstück and Phantasie.
Liszt wrote the Totentanz for piano and orchestra, a paraphrase of
the Dies
Irae. Max Bruch wrote a popular Scottish Fantasy for violin and
orchestra, César
Franck wrote Les Djinns and
Variations symphoniques, and Gabriel
Fauré wrote a Ballade for piano
and orchestra.

The concerto in the 20th century

Many of the concertos written in the early
19th
century belong more to the late Romantic school than to any
modernistic movement. Masterpieces were written by Edward Elgar
(a violin concerto and a cello concerto), Sergei
Rachmaninoff (four piano concertos), Jean
Sibelius (a violin concerto), Frederick
Delius (a violin concerto, a cello concerto, a piano concerto
and a double concerto for violin and cello), Karol
Szymanowski (two violin concertos and a "Symphonie Concertante"
for piano), and Richard
Strauss (two horn concertos, a violin concerto, Don Quixote - a
tone poem which features the cello as a soloist - and among later
works, an oboe concerto).

These changes also affected the concerto as a
musical form. Beside more or less radical effects on musical
language, they led to a redefinition of the concept of virtuosity
in order to include new and extended instrumental techniques as
well as a focus on aspects of sound that had been neglected or even
ignored before such as pitch, timbre and dynamics.
In some cases, they also brought about a new approach to the role
of the soloist and its relation to the orchestra.

Violin concertos

Two great innovators of early 20th-century music,
Schoenberg
and Stravinsky,
both wrote violin concertos. The material in Schoenberg’s concerto,
like that in Berg’s, is
linked by the twelve-tone
serial method. Bartók,
another major 20th century composer, wrote two important concertos
for violin. Russian composers Prokofiev and
Shostakovich
both wrote two concertos while Khachaturian
wrote a concerto and a Concerto-Rhapsody for the instrument.
Paul
Hindemith’s concertos hark back to the forms of the 19th
century, even if the harmonic language which he used was
different.

Three violin concertos from David
Diamond show the form in neoclassical style.

More recently, Dutilleux's
L'Arbre des Songes has proved an important addition to the
repertoire and a fine example of the composer's atonal yet melodic
style.

Cello concertos

In the 20th century, particularly after the
Second World War, the cello enjoyed an unprecedented popularity. As
a result, its concertante repertoire caught up with those of the
piano and the violin both in terms of quantity and quality.

Bartók also
wrote three piano concertos. Like their violin counterparts, they
show the various stages in his musical development.

Ralph
Vaughan Williams wrote concertos for piano and for two pianos
while Britten's concerto
for piano (1938) is a fine work from his early period.

Ligeti's concerto is
a good example of a more recent piece (1985) that uses complex
rhythms.

Concertos for other instruments

The 20th century also witnessed a growth of the
concertante repertoire of instruments which had seldom or never
been used in this capacity. As a result, almost all the instruments
of the classical orchestra now have a concertante repertoire.
Examples include:

Amongst the works of the prolific composer
Alan
Hovhaness may be noted Prayer of St. Gregory for trumpet and
strings.

Today the concerto tradition has been continued
by composers such as Maxwell
Davies, whose series of Strathclyde
Concertos exploit some of the instruments less familiar as
soloists.

Concertos for two or more instruments

Many composers also wrote concertos for two or
more soloists, for example Vivaldi (for 2, 3
or 4 violins, for 2 cellos, for 2 mandolins, for 2 trumpets, for 2
flutes, for oboe and bassoon, for cello and bassoon... etc.) and
Bach (for 2
violins, for 2, 3, or 4 harpsichords). Following the tradition of
Mozart who
wrote concerti for both two pianos and three pianos, Poulenc wrote a
concerto for two pianos. Mozart also wrote a concerto for flute and
harp. In the Romantic era, Beethoven wrote a
triple concerto for piano, violin, and cello, Brahms a double
concerto for violin and cello and Bruch a double
concerto for viola and clarinet. Notable examples in the 20th
century include Ligeti's Concerto
for flute and oboe, Lutoslawski's
Concerto for oboe and harp and Messiaen's Concert
à Quatre for piano, cello, oboe and flute. Benjamin
Britten wrote a double concerto for violin and viola and
Michael
Tippett a triple concerto for violin, viola, and cello.